Carterella
by actionman81
Summary: A bedtime story for Peggy and Daniel's son, Michael, is anything but simple.


1955

"Alright Michael, settle down" Peggy Carter sounded uncharacteristically motherly.  
Michael Sousa jumped about the room  
"I shall count to three" she began, "One, two"  
He immediately raced to his bed.  
"Splendid" Peggy smiled  
"Read me this one" Michael thrust a book at his mother  
"Please" he added. He had Daniel's eyes, but Peggy's hair. How could she say no to him?  
"Hmm" Peggy glanced at the book, "Cinderella" she smiled knowingly, "I think that can be arranged"  
She opened the book, "Once there was a gentleman who married for his second wife the proudest and most haughty woman that" she stopped and stared at the book, "Flaming Norah!" she frowned, "This won't do" she clapped the book shut and looked at her young son. He looked at her expectantly, and clearly wanted a story. Peggy sighed, "Cinderella isn't about the man saving her. It is a woman saving herself through being courageous and kind" she began, "I shall tell you the real tale of Cinderella"  
"A real one?" he gasped. Clearly the boy was amazed  
"Yes" Peggy smiled, and began, "There was once a woman named Ella. Her mother had died and her father remarried. But his new wife was a hateful woman, and had two grown up daughters of her own. So Ella, rather than stay in that horrid house, left as soon as she could"  
"She ran away?"  
"Quite so"

At SSR, housed in the phone company building, Peggy slipped out of her desk and briskly walked down the row of desks. She had almost reached the hall when she heard a familiar, yet frightening voice  
"Why Peggy, I didn't know you'd be here?"  
It was Dottie. Dottie Underwood  
Peggy spun around, "What in the bloody blue blazes are you doing here?"  
Jack Thompson stepped up, "She's going to be helping us, Peggy"

"So" Peggy continued, "Ella started living in a poorer part of town, and was forced to work hard labor. She had to wait tables at a restaurant, and then, her stepsisters came and would ridicule her, calling her a serving wench"

"I'm still the chief in New York, so that puts this under my jurisdiction" Thompson smiled smugly at Carter, "and Ms. Underwood here will be helping the SSR track down one of Hydra's operatives"  
"The same way she tracked down Whitney Frost and nearly got herself killed in the process?" Peggy subtly left out the fact that Jarvis and she were also nearly killed  
"Peggy, I'll need you to go undercover and work with Dottie on-"  
"Hold on, you are not my superior" Peggy glared at him  
"Right, that's Sousa" Jack quipped  
"I suppose that's much harder than snatching his ex-fiancé as though she was a rebounded basketball during a match?"  
"Hey, she wanted to see me in the hospital"  
"She's a nurse, it's her job"  
"Children, please" Dottie smiled widely. Jack and Peggy stared at her, "let's talk about why we're here. Me"  
"We've heard that Hydra is planning to bring in women, much like yourself" he referred to Dottie, "Through a series of restaurants" he turned to Peggy, "I need you, with her help, to figure out how they're doing it"  
"And because I'm a woman, you figured I'd be perfect to play a waitress?"  
"Because you're" he sighed, "the best at what you do"  
"If you put it like that" Peggy smiled, "I'll be glad to"

"So" Peggy went on with the story, "Ella's step sisters came into the restaurant one day and talked about a dance that was being held. It was a ball. A costume ball, and only appropriate people could attend. "  
"Is that where they'll meet the prince?" Michael asked eagerly  
"I'll get to that" Peggy smiled,

"I hate this" Dottie scrubbed a plate and haphazardly put it back on the tray. She walked out onto the floor and surveyed the place. The Auto Mat looked the same as always. Sea foam green walls and white accents. "I hate this color"  
"Maybe if you quit complaining and paid attention, we'd find something" Peggy fumed, "If you'll excuse me, the gentleman is signaling that I take his payment"  
"So I was telling her" the man went on. Peggy neared towards the table. Just like at SSR, unless she was fetching something, she was invisible. She deftly used that to her advantage, "that if you want to go to this party, you've got to have the right dress."  
"So did you help her get it off?" his dining companion laughed  
"Yeah, and the dress, too" the first man grinned foolishly. He took a small paper note from his dining partner  
Peggy walked up and handed them the bill  
"Sure thing, Sugar" the man smiled and slapped her ass, "I wouldn't mind you for dessert"  
Peggy took the money and left, fuming silently.  
Dottie saw everything, "You're not going to let him get away with that, are you?" for once, there was something the two women could agree on. Peggy looked back. The man's companion had left, and he sat alone, waiting for his change.  
Peggy smiled and turned around, walked behind the man and pressed a fork to his midsection, "I understand you're still hungry."  
"You work here?"  
"Let's say I'm here part time" she dug the fork deeper into his side, "Just to be clear, this is pressed into your brachial artery, it may be dull but I'm determined"  
He looked afraid. She pressed the fork harder  
"Keep smiling. Once you start to bleed, you'll lose consciousness in fifteen seconds, you'll die in ninety unless someone comes to your aid. Now given your recent behavior, how likely do you think that is to happen? To prevent this not entirely unfortunate event from occurring, I suggest you find another place to eat. Do we understand each other?"  
"Yeah!"  
"Good. Oh, And one more thing- tip generously" she put her available hand out. The man stared at it. She looked down at his hand, which clutched the note. The man swallowed, realizing late what she meant. He loosened his grasp on the piece of paper.  
Peggy pulled the fork away. The man stood and bolted from the table  
"Have a nice day" she pleasantly called after him  
"Now then, let's see what you were so intent on holding onto" she opened the note quietly  
Within moments, Dottie was next to her.  
"Bloody Norah, it's in code" Peggy stared at the apparently meaningless words  
"Now, now, Peggy" Dottie chided, "I know you were an excellent code breaker. Lying like thatw won't get you anywhere with me"  
"I trust you about as far as I can throw you"  
"Then you must trust me quite a bit" Dottie's huge smile looked appropriate for a clownish supervillain.  
"Come on, we've got to get to the phone company"

"So then" Peggy continued the story, "the step sisters boasted about their costumes, and laughed at poor Ella, who was working. She was so upset, and was ready to cry, but she didn't. She mustered her reserve and decided to do something about it. She'd find a way to go to the party"  
"So she took an old dress that had been thrown out in the trash. Her stepmother and stepsisters threw out lovely things that they had no use for, for they bored easily. She spent nights working on the dress, changing it to fit her better, making it look gorgeous"  
"Mummy, that's boring!" Michael whined  
"Could you fix your jeans when they tore on Saturday?"  
"No" he shook his head  
"One day, I'll teach you when you're older, or Daddy will"  
"Daddy can sew?" he looked shocked  
"Your Daddy can do a lot of things" she smiled wistfully

At the SSR, Peggy poured over the code. This was a bit tougher. It wasn't that the code was written in another language, or even a set of alphanumeric or other modulated code sequence. It was something else entirely.  
"Come on, Carter" Jack leaned against the desk, "You've been at this all night. Give it a break"  
"I suppose your men could do a better job?"  
"Yeah, if they could figure it out" he shrugged, "Just quit it already"  
"Why are you so ready to see me give up?"  
"You know me" he grinned  
"Indeed, I do" she glared at him. Then she looked back at the sequence on the page  
"You know, it could be a onetime pad system" he stood to leave, "That's when-"  
She stopped him, "I know bloody well what a onetime pad system is. If I were to send you a message, I would have a pad with different code keys on each page. You have an identical pad. I crypt the message by using the key, you decode it, and you're the only one who can because you have the only corresponding code key. We both destroy the pages with the keys on them, and the next time I need to send you a message, we use the next page"  
"Very good, teacher" he smirked  
"As long as it's used correctly, it is theoretically perfectly secure" she sighed, "Which means that if this is a onetime pad system, then without the corresponding key page, we have a long night of work ahead"  
"Wrong, you have a long night of work" Jack put his hat and coat on, "I've got to get home to Violet" he grinned, "Do me a favor, Marge, shut the lights when you leave, huh?"  
Peggy looked at the code. It was unbreakable without the pad with the key. She glanced at her watch. Howard was no doubt busy at this time of night. Angie, too, and she wouldn't be able to unlock the Auto Mat to get the-  
She stopped. The receipt; it had the man's name, and was a good starting place. She slipped the code into her pocket, got up and left for the Auto Mat

"Now then, Ella had made a lovely dress, and a mask to go with it, for it was a costume ball, but she needed shoes"  
"Did her fairy godmother give them to her?" Michael looked up eagerly  
"Not this time" Peggy smiled, "Ella was a resourceful woman, and she saved her money from working at the restaurant to buy a beautiful pair of shoes"  
"Glass slippers?"  
"No Michael, glass would be much too delicate. No, she'd something sturdy, like leather"  
"Ella saved her money and bought a beautiful pair of shoes, ones that she could run in"  
"Running, for a ball?"  
"You like to run, don't you?"  
"Uh huh" he grinned

Peggy used her bobby pin and a straight pin to get the Auto Mat unlocked. She slipped in quietly, found the stack of receipts and snatched the one she needed off the metal prong on the counter. She checked to lock the door and was soon out on the streets, just another pedestrian in New York City  
Her next stop was the directory at SSR.

SSR might deal with science and strategy for winning wars, but it was also home to an expansive database, one which rivaled anything Howard Stark might be able to come up with. Peggy scoured the files, looking for the patron's name, Kevin Heffernan. He'd had run ins with the law, mainly minor issues, but there was a file on him, including an address.

Peggy couldn't very well hire a cab in the middle of the night, so she did what she had to and called Edwin Jarvis  
"Mr. Jarvis, I am sorry for the late call, but I have a pressing need"  
"As does my wife" his tone was civil and very British  
"My apologies to your wife, but I need to be at," she looked at the address, "across town from the phone company as soon as possible"  
"I understand" he nodded, "I shall be there in—as soon as I can"  
"Please, hurry"  
Jarvis picked up Peggy, and she directed him as where to take her  
"Don't you think it will be rather suspicious, bothering him at home, at such a late hour?" Jarvis asked  
"At this point, we have very little time. The coded note could mean anything and we may even be too late"

Soon, they arrived at the address, and Carter wasted no time in entering the home.  
Mr. Heffernan was sound asleep in an armchair. The radio played on his mantle  
"And now, back to the Captain America Adventure Program"  
"Bloody Norah!" Peggy spat out the words  
She fashioned a garrote out of the scarf at her neck, and in a moment's notice, had wrapped it around his neck. The man struggled but she held him down, whilst on the radio, Betty Carver cried for Captain America to rescue her from the Nazis  
"The code" Peggy got right to the heart of the matter, "What did it say?"  
"Nothing, I hadn't looked it up yet" the man choked out the words  
"Where's the key?" she pulled the garrote tighter  
He made some unintelligible noises. She loosened the scarf slightly  
"Top drawer, by the bed" he meant another room in the apartment  
"And you'll run off or try to beat me while I go do that?"  
"Hit him again, Cap" Betty Carver cheered on from the radio  
"Good idea" she smirked, and slammed Heffernan's head against the wall. The man lay unconscious in a heap by the chair  
Peggy tied him up, using bedsheets that she found in a nearby closet, located the key book, and kicked the unconscious man in the head for good measure  
She raced out of the apartment, while Jarvis had left the car idling, for just such a speedy getaway  
"Most exhilarating" Jarvis noted as they sped away, "I'll have to ask Ana to pick up some Odorono Cream the next time she does the shopping"  
Peggy didn't want to see if he really needed the new deodorant or not

"Are you sure you'll be alright, Ms. Carter?" Jarvis was genuinely concerned  
"I'll be fine" she smiled, "And it's Mrs. Sousa" she fingered her wedding band  
"As you wish" Jarvis smiled and drove off.  
Peggy opened the door and let herself in. She locked the door and turned, startled, when the light came on  
Daniel sat in an armchair, the lamp on, next to him  
"Darling" Peggy smiled and ran to him, "When did you arrive?"  
"Tonight" he smiled back and stood with his crutch. They embraced  
"Michael?" she thought about their son, "He's asleep" he held her, "Ana knew you were busy, and when I called in the evening, she said she'd bring him back tonight"  
"I – I should have been here" she thought back to everything she'd been doing  
"Nonsense" he looked right at her, "You're Peggy Carter. I couldn't expect you to stay home, waiting for me" he was genuine. He knew she needed her life of action and adventure  
"Look" he squeezed her, "you're here now, and I feel a lot better knowing that"  
"Los Angeles got to be too much for you?"  
"They're thinking about bringing in someone else to head the office there."  
"So, you'll come back to New York?" Daniel had been making trips back and forth for work. There hadn't been a full position at the Los Angeles branch for Peggy, and she realized that she needed to be in New York for work  
"Los Angeles has the sun, sand, and surf, and there are a million reasons for me to stay but there is only one reason for me to go home"  
"Daniel" she rested her head on his shoulder. She was strong, confident, and could do practically anything a man could do, and better, yet it felt so good to be with Daniel, holding him, him holding her, not for any perfunctory sense of comfort or safety, but knowing that he respected her, loved her for herself, and really, that was enough. She'd only known that one other time.  
She sighed, "I hate to do this, but I've got something pressing to deal with"  
"Me too" he grinned, and then realized that she was talking about something else  
"Sure" he said a little too fast, "what can I do to help?"  
"Be here," she smiled  
Peggy and Daniel sat at the dining table, while she explained what was going on, and decoded the note  
"Shipment arrives at midnight"  
Daniel looked at the wall clock, "It's 11:25" he noted, "We'd better hurry" he got up from the table  
"What are they shipping, who's shipping what? We don't know any of that"  
"True, but if Hydra, or the Arena Club, or anyone is behind this, where would they go to have something delivered without anyone finding out?"  
"Crikey O'Reilly! The dockyard" Peggy realized. That was where Howard had taken her when he'd left the country. A ship coming in at night wouldn't seem out of place  
"Let's go" she left the table. Daniel called the Jarvises and asked Edwin and Ana to stay at the Sousa's until they returned, then the two of them headed out  
"It's 11:40" Peggy noted the time as Daniel drove them in his modified Ford  
The dockyard that Peggy had in mind was another fifteen minutes away, even in the dead of night with little traffic. Would that be enough time?

The barge slowed to a stop at the docks. Crew in dark green sweaters and pants hefted huge wooden crates off the craft and unloaded them onto the dock. The Ford stopped just short of the dock. Daniel killed the lights and the two agents looked at the living tableau of terror that awaited them. One worker, most probably a Hydra agent, like the other crew members, opened each crate.  
Peggy and Daniel stared in horror as a little girl exited each crate, and then another, and another. The sight would have been comical had they not had the knowledge of who these children were trained to do lethal damage to the world.  
"Little girls" Daniel stated the obvious  
"Sleeper Hydra agents" Peggy explained  
Blondes, brunettes, redheads; they all exited the crates in alarmingly increasing numbers. Had the two agents tried to fight them off, they would be woefully outnumbered.  
It was nearly daybreak, and the two decided it was better to leave alive, than risk being killed with no way to relay the information  
"To SSR?" Daniel backed the car out, with the headlights still off  
"Of course" Peggy agreed

"Once Cinderella, that's what she called herself, now, got to the ball, she saw lots of people, and there was a Prince. Everyone wanted to meet him" Peggy told the story, "so she went up too"  
"Did she like the prince?" Michael wanted to know  
"No" Peggy smiled, and he didn't like her or her costume. He said it was strange"  
"Oh" Michael looked disappointed

At SSR, things were less than stellar once Jack Thompson had been called in  
"Damn it, Carter, I told you to break the code, not do a black bag job" Thompson shouted  
"Agent Thompson" she began  
"That's Chief Thompson to you"  
"I know perfectly well who you are, a man who shot unarmed Japanese as a way to make himself look like a hero in front of his fellow soldiers; a man who took credit for solving a crime that he had very little to do with" she stared him down  
Daniel looked at them arguing. He leaned on his crutch and kept quiet.  
Jack's voice became small, "You didn't have to tell him"  
"And you were fine with the idea of spewing lies about me to the entire world?" she referred to the falsified redacted files that spoke of an M. Carter who had massacred civilians during a World War Two mission overseas.  
"What can we do now?" Thompson turned to the two agents  
"You're asking us?" Daniel stared at his former coworker, "I thought that a big man like you had all the answers"  
Jack didn't respond

"The prince didn't say anything. He didn't like Cinderella" Peggy continued the tale, "Cinderella started to leave, but on the way, some bad men tried to stop her, so she beat them with her shoe"  
"Wow!"  
"And then, she ran off into the night"  
"Then what happened?"  
"The prince sent his footman to go find her. All he had was her one shoe, so he searched and searched"  
"Why was he called the footman? Did he have only one foot?"  
"Perhaps" Peggy had a wistful smile on her face, "When the footman finally came to Cinderella's step mother's house, he tried to put the shoe on one sister, and then the other sister, but the shoe didn't fit them. Finally, Cinderella made herself known at the door of the house, and the footman put the shoe on her. And wouldn't you know, it fit perfectly!"  
"Did the prince fall in love with her then?"  
"No" Peggy shook her head, "Something better happened. Cinderella realized that she loved the footman, and the footman loved Cinderella"  
"What happened then?"  
"What do you think happened, Michael? They lived happily ever after" she kissed him, "Now go to sleep like a good boy. I've got a lot of work to do tonight, and Daddy will help me"  
"Night Mummy, I love you" Michael snuggled under the covers  
"I love you, too" Peggy left the room

Outside the room, Daniel sat on a chair, "Great story" he smiled, "I never thought he'd sleep"  
"I know" Peggy agreed, "Now we've got a night full of work to do"  
"Too bad we can't live happily ever after"  
"We are" she kissed him, "and we'll find a way to deal with those Hydra sleeper agents. We always do" she held his hand, "I wouldn't want anyone else fighting by my side"  
"Me, either" he squeezed her hand.


End file.
